Fatima, July 13, 1917: Vision of Hell and Damnation

Introduction

ON JULY 13 the Beautiful Lady gave the children a terrifying vision of Hell for lost souls, and told then three prophetic secrets of future events. Hellish visions are relatively commonplace in near-death experiences.

The following account is excerpted and adapted from Fàtima, the Great Sign, by Francis W. Johnston (1980)

THE LADY'S FACE face then grew very grave and she said:

"Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say often, especially when you make some sacrifice: 0 my Jesus, this is for love of You, for the con-. version of sinners, and in reparation for the offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

At these words, she opened her hands on the three children once again and the light streaming from them seemed to penetrate the earth and the children beheld a vision of Hell.

Lucia cried out in terror, calling upon Our Lady.

"We could see a vast sea of fire," she revealed many years later.

"Plunged in the flames were demons and lost souls, as if they were red-hot coals, transparent and black or bronze-coloured, in human form, which floated about in the conflagration, borne by the flames which issued from them, with clouds of smoke falling on all sides as sparks fall in a great conflagration without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of sorrow and despair that horrified us and caused us to tremble with fear. The devils could be distinguished by horrible and loathsome forms of animals, frightful and unknown, but transparent like black coals that have turned red-hot."

Full of fear, the children raised their eyes beseechingly to the Lady who said to them with unspeakable sadness and tenderness:

"You saw Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people do what I ask, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if people do not stop offending God, another, even worse, will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world by means of war, hunger and persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent it, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If people attend to my requests, Russia will be converted and the world will have peace. If not, Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, fomenting wars and persecutions of the Church. The good Will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me; it will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogmas of the Faith will always be kept..."

The Vision of Hell:
A Great Secret

NOW THE LADY continued her Revelation, but at this precise point she instructed the children to preserve the remainder as a secret -- which Lucia has faithfully done.

Over the ensuing decades, the Secret was understood to contain three portions, the first two of which (concerning the advent of a Second World War) were eventually and appropriately revealed by Lucia, under the Lady's instruction.

The third and final Secret, however, was more problematic, and it became intensely controversial. Lucia felt that the Lady wished that it, too, should be told to the world, but Lucia entrusted the Secret and its proper announcement to Church authorities. Lucia hoped for them to disclose the content by no later than 1960. However, that year came and passed without any proclamation.

On the contrary, a decision seemed to have been made that the Third Secret should never be revealed.

Naturally, this reticence sparked intensive and sometimes wild speculation as the the message content. The Third Secret has remained a subject of great controversy ever since.

At last, in June of 2000 the Church reversed its prior decision and announce the Secret and its meaning. (See Third Secret Revealed )

Vision of Hell: Apocalyptic Warning

Pope Paul VI believed that the fall of the sun at Fatima was not only a warning of possible nuclear war if mankind refused to change. "It was eschatological in the sense that it was like a repetition or an annunciation of a scene at the end of time for all humanity assembled together," His Holiness told the French philosopher, Jean Guitton, on 28 May 1967, a statement which he later recorded in his book Journal de ma Vie. Those who would take exception to the Holy Father's words are obliged to ask them-selves what greater sign would satisfy them. What could be more overwhelming in impact than the sun plunging like fire from Heaven while tens of thousands lay writhing in the mud, screaming for mercy, convinced that the end of the world had arrived? When an accident occurs, we try to understand what has happened, and why, through the evidence of eyewitnesses. At Fatima, we have 100,000 eyewitnesses of all faiths and none, united in their conviction that this was indeed the end of the world..."

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